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The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued an advisory in the last week of September stating that no antibiotics and pesticide residues are allowed in honey. This was soon after the CSE study that found high levels of antibiotics in both domestic as well as international honey brands.
(What's in your honey; DTE Sept 30,2010)

Minister of state for agriculture, consumer affairs, food and public distribution, Prof K V Thomas in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on CSE’s report also stated that the European Union had banned the export of honey from India, on account of positive detection of heavy metals and other contaminants, reported in the Residual Monitoring Plan.

The numbers of people affected by nearly 20 years of aerial spray of Endosulfan, an organochlorine pesticide, in the cashew plantations in Kasaragod, the northern most district of Kerala is increasing. While the focus earlier was on Padre village, the health impacts are evident in people of nearly 11 panchayats in the district. Victims here are suffering from congenital deformities, physical disabilities, mental retardation and gynecological problems. The same health impacts are now being seen in the neighboring Dakshin Kanada district in Karnataka as well.

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in partnership with the Central Environmental Authority (CEA), Sri Lanka, has conducted two training programmes in Srilanka for the CEA officials from 25-29 April, 2011 and 21-25 November, 2011.

Adopting dual standards is a practice large multi national corporations follow especially when it comes to developing countries. Soft drinks industry is a classic case of this as the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) discovered way back in 2003. A laboratory report prepared by CSE detailed some astonishing facts about the extent of pesticide contamination in soft drinks sold in India.

Front Page Teaser:

The latest Supreme Court judgment on this subject has brought back memories of the CSE campaign which started it all. A look at what had happened in 2003 and 2006...